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323213 Best Tips To Boost Instagram Engagementhttps://velvetmm.com/13-best-tips-to-boost-instagram-engagement/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=13-best-tips-to-boost-instagram-engagement
https://velvetmm.com/13-best-tips-to-boost-instagram-engagement/#respondTue, 20 Aug 2019 13:30:12 +0000https://velvetmm.com/?p=646Intro Social platforms are a great way to market and create exposure towards your business. Whether it be through thoughtful captions, colorful pictures or stimulating videos, platforms such as Instagram are the most interactive way to visibly market your brand, gain more attraction from potential fans, and build a network of connections with other brands …

Social platforms are a great way to market and create exposure towards your business. Whether it be through thoughtful captions, colorful pictures or stimulating videos, platforms such as Instagram are the most interactive way to visibly market your brand, gain more attraction from potential fans, and build a network of connections with other brands as well as your target audience.

If you are just starting off on Instagram, it can often times feel like an uphill battle to gain your ideal amount of account engagement.

You start to wonder “how do these other accounts have hundreds or thousands of likes and comments on their posts?” while you’re stuck with 25-75 likes on a good day.

Just know you’re not the only one experiencing this, there’s thousands of accounts out there (even some with huge followings) that are all experiencing the same issue boosting their account engagement. So give yourself a break, even top accounts like Kim Kardashian only get a ~1.5% engagement rate.

Although it may be difficult in the beginning to see meaningful engagement, we’ve devised the 13 Top Tips to Boost Instagram Engagement in 2019 the right way.

1. Creating / Optimizing your account bio

Instagram gives you the ability to write a bio that is 150 characters long, which describes what the account is going to be about or anything of your choosing.

Fully taking advantage of the bio space while speaking directly to your target audience is what you should be aiming for. This allows for the ideal engaged audience to be attracted to your account and content. Be considerate of how your page differentiates from other similar accounts and why it might be appealing to your ideal audience and let them know this with your bio.

2. Include a link in your Instagram bio

More engagement also involves redirecting your audience to your own website. Sending them directly to your website is a simple click away by including a link in your Instagram profile description.

This allows for your audience to access your website, read about your business or brand, sign up for a newsletter, contact you, etc. More importantly, directing your audience to external communication sources that you’re in full control of ensures that you don’t have to rely on third-party platforms such as Instagram to share your content with fans. I.e. You can now get your fans attention via email newsletter or blog update about your latest Instagram post to boost post engagement.

I know what you’re thinking, do email newsletters really work to boost post engagement? Subscribe to our newsletter right now and we can show you 🙂

Remember that these social media platforms main incentive is to self-profit, so don’t be surprised if they make business choices and platform changes that might not be beneficial to you and your brand. If you don’t believe us, go watch The Great Hack on Netflix.

3. Be creative with your posts

Through your posts and instagram stories, be creative with your content. Creative and authentic posts allow you to showcase the astonishing properties and information regarding your brand or business.

Not only does it showcase your brand, but these types of posts are more appealing to the audience and will organically garner higher engagement. Generate content that is unique, eye-catching and share-worthy! For example, studies show that brighter pictures get 592% more likes than darker ones, so brighten up those shots! We will recommend you some of our favorite photo editing apps later on in the article.

Let’s do a photo comparison! Which photo below would you be more likely to notice and engage with below?

A raw unedited photo of a burger, fries and Old Fashion taken with a professional DSLR camera.

A brighter version of the SAME photo from our content creation work with Magnolia House in Pasadena. See the difference?

4. Consistent Posting Schedule

There isn’t a rule on instagram where you have to post at the same time daily, however it is beneficial to be consistent. Studies show that there is a certain time each day where followers are more active, usually mid-day or nighttime.

Being consistent with when you post is beneficial for engagement because users are more active.

You’ll need to review your analytics page (we’ll explain this in more detail later) and observe what times your followers are most active on each given day of the week and plan your posting schedule as such.

Instagram has already made past public statements mentioning that recency is a factor that plays into your post viewership numbers, which means the more recent your post is published to a follower being active on Instagram, the more likely that they will see it. It’s simple, more active followers online at once means more people likely to see your post and engage.

5. Adding location to your posts

Easy opportunity for more discovery & engagement

Adding a location to your posts builds more discoverability. People are often looking for instagram posts in a particular area, event, or popular location, so this allows your posts to possibly be discovered by a new user. Any new methods of brand discovery can lead to more new followers and increased engagement.

For example, when you post a picture of camping at Yosemite National Park in California and add “Yosemite National Park” as the location, it will appear under that location tag. With Yosemite being a popular national site, it will help your account gain more attraction.

When tagging locations, be mindful of what you’re tagging. The key to location tagging is using the smallest possible location that is available. Many people tag an entire city expecting to be discovered but what can end up happening is your post will be lost in an overly saturated location tag such as “Los Angeles” where there is too much competition. Tag the actual building, venue, business, or area that you are in. If you choose to tag more generalized areas, then blend a diversified strategy where you switch between broad and specific locations between posts.

6. Start Conversations with Instagram Stories Stickers

The unique feature of Instagram is that it gives you the option to have polls, ask questions, and more on your stories. Adding this to any of your stories allows for you to engage one on one with each of your followers. It’s also a great way for your followers to share their opinions with you.

The question sticker gives your followers the opportunity to get to know your brand and ask for more information about you, your products or your services. You can even share their responses and answer them on your stories, this allows for other followers to see what other followers shared and help inspire further engagement.

There’s another powerful psychological factor that comes into play when you constantly give your followers the option to engage with your story stickers. By allowing your followers to consistently engage with your stories, you’re innately getting your fans into a habit of engaging when they see your posts.

7. Replying to your Direct Messages and Comments

Never leave your followers hanging when they reach out to you through Comments and Direct Message (DM).

This step is both beneficial and essential towards boosting engagement.

Building and maintaining a relationship with your followers creates credibility and delight towards your brand or business and it shows the audience that you genuinely care about what they have to say.

Always be sure to spend time listening and responding to their feedback whether it be positive or negative.

The simplicity of showing your audience that you are actually listening to their opinions helps build online conversation and a community that inspires further engagement.

Additionally, Instagram appears to prioritize “stronger relationships” between accounts when it comes to post impressions so keep up with actively responding to followers to boost your engagement on a personal- and algorithmic-level.

8. Use branded and relevant hashtags

Creating your own branded hashtag is the first step to building your hashtag marketing. Think of this as a personal forum where you and your fans can generate more buzz surrounding your brand while allowing for discoverability in a “one-stop shop.”

You can create a range of branded hashtags but to start off, create branded hashtags that allow you to better keep track of :

Promotions

Contests

Giveaways

Sponsored Events

Product Launches

Product Updates

Product Reviews

The key to any hashtag strategy is understanding which hashtags your target audience are most drawn to.

Some important questions to ask when doing hashtag research:

“Is my target audience engaging with this hashtag?”

“How many posts per minute does this hashtag receive? Will my post get buried in the feed?”

“Are there enough people viewing / following this hashtag?”

“Does this hashtag mean what I think it means?”

A variation of your top hashtags should be used consistently through content that is posted on your account.

9. Look at your analytics

Using a gut-feeling approach when it comes to your brand is risky. Knowing the importance of data and how it interacts with your overall marketing plan is essential. Using Instagram analytics lets you better understand what’s working and what isn’t for increasing your engagement rates.

Analyze what times your followers are most active each day.

In order to gain access to the free analytics provided by Instagram, you’ll first need to make sure that your account is setup as a Business Account in order to access “Instagram Insights.”

The following is a breakdown of some of the key features that Instagram analytics can offer your brand:

When your followers are active by time of day and by day of the week.

How many “profile visits” that your profile acquired within the past week.

The total amount of “taps” or “clicks” that your posts and/or profile have gained within the past week.

The amount of “get directions”, phone calls, or emails that users have placed through your profile.

How many “website clicks” that users made from your profile within the past week.

What your top performing post or story is.

There are many premium tools to help measure your Instagram marketing efforts but these options can often times be costly. However, these tools allow you to track your content such as post performance, comments, and measure the amount of likes that each post receives, and much more.

If you’re working with a digital marketing agency, they will most likely have a wide set of tools that they use to track your metrics on a more enhanced level, so make sure to request a performance report. And if you’re not in touch with a digital marketing agency, you 100% should be, just a quick 15-minute conversation about your brand’s current situation can unlock huge potential insights and gains for your business.

10. Have a “Theme” for your posts

Having a theme for your posts doesn’t necessarily mean posting the same type of content, but instead stick to one Instagram filter for example. Creating a theme with the type of filter you use is visually attractive to the audience and keeps your account organized. Stick with a filter that you feel defines your business the most and that you feel comfortable with. You can either use the filters that Instagram provides or use an app.

I’d like you to take a look at the difference between the two Instagram feeds below. Believe it or not, both feeds belong to the same account. The feeds are a before and after from one of our clients, WeHo Bistro, where we applied a stylized theme and curation to their content.

Before (Without themed content)

After (With a stylized theme)

Now that you’re hopefully convinced, here are some photo editing apps you can start playing around with:

VSCO

Prisma Photo Editor

Snapseed

Aviary

Afterlight

Camera+

11. Write structured Instagram captions

Instagram captions can be up to 2,200 characters long. Not all characters have to be used, but use the amount to your advantage to write up a long and attractive Instagram caption.

Having a well thought out caption keeps your audience informed about your brand goals, brand mission, products, and anything else.

Here’s our recommended Instagram Caption Format:

Hook. Always start your caption out with a “hook” that helps attract your audience to read on and hopefully engage.

Sinker. This is your “Call to Action” (CTA) where you prompt an immediate response from your followers. In most cases, you’ll want to prompt the user to comment on your post since more comments equal more engagement and visibility.

12. Use the right image size

Make sure that your Instagram posts are sized correctly because nothing is worse than having a photo that is cut off or isn’t posted how you envisioned it.

Here are the sizing for ideal Instagram posts:

Profile photo: 320×320 px

Instagram stories/IGTV: 1080×1920 px

Square photos: 1080×1080 px

Portrait photos: 1080×1350 px

Landscape photos: 1080×566 px

13. Target your ghost followers

Your “ghost followers” are followers that view your posts but are still not engaging despite deploying everything from the first 12 steps. The issue here is that Instagram’s algorithm is designed to show your new post to a small percentage or subset of your followers. Based on that subsets feedback aka engagement on your post, Instagram uses that data as a factor in whether or not your post is considered high-quality and if it will show your post to more followers or the general public.

So when ghost followers continuously don’t engage with your content, they can actually be harming your overall Instagram health.

There’s a few different tactics that you’ll want to deploy to help resolve this but we’ll mention two main suggestions:

Removing your ghost followers. This can be done by blocking and unblocking or removing that follower.

Re-engaging your ghost followers. This is the preferred method since you don’t want to lose followers on your account. You want to perform outreach with your ghost followers and try to re-attract them to re-engage with your content. This can usually be done via DM’ing, liking or commenting on their posts!

We suggest any accounts that are experiencing a high amount of ghost followers to do a full review of their last 30-120 posts to map out which of their followers are engaging with their posts, which followers are not engaging (ghost followers), and which non-followers are engaging with their post. This review allows your account to uncover a lot of new opportunities for you to better engage and convert your fans. If you’re interested in having this service done for you, just send us an email and we can help you get started.

CONCLUSION

Incorporating these tips in the way you market your business on Instagram can help boost the engagement on your account. Spend some time to juggle different ideas on how you want your profile to look and be creative with whatever you choose to post. Thousands of successful brands and businesses have been built through highly engaged Instagram accounts, yours could be next!

]]>https://velvetmm.com/13-best-tips-to-boost-instagram-engagement/feed/0115 Best Real Estate Marketing Ideashttps://velvetmm.com/115-best-real-estate-marketing-ideas/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=115-best-real-estate-marketing-ideas
https://velvetmm.com/115-best-real-estate-marketing-ideas/#respondTue, 06 Aug 2019 01:07:19 +0000https://velvetmm.com/?p=622Check out these 115 best real estate marketing ideas to get you more leads. INTRO Real estate can be challenging and your ideas may not always be flowing in the right direction, so here is a unique list of 115 best real estate marketing ideas to creatively supercharge your real estate marketing efforts. ONLINE REAL …

]]>Check out these 115 best real estate marketing ideas to get you more leads.

INTRO

Real estate can be challenging and your ideas may not always be flowing in the right direction, so here is a unique list of 115 best real estate marketing ideas to creatively supercharge your real estate marketing efforts.

ONLINE REAL ESTATE MARKETING IDEAS

The internet is the easiest way to market your brand on mass scale. However, on the internet there are a range of resources which you may not know how to fully use. The following are some options to help guide your online marketing:

Create a Real Estate Website for your brand – Most clients will perform intensive research online before working with someone, a well-made website will allow prospective clients to discover convincing information on your business beforehand. Some sites that you can use to create your own website are: WordPress (Highly recommended for its versatility and customizability), Squarespace, Wix, and Weebly.

Custom Images – Use your own photos to build authenticity. Beautiful and eye-catching images make your website stand out from other competitors.

Website Keywords – When people search online, they unintentionally seek out websites that use wording that matches with their original search intent. Be sure to include a non-spammy ratio of keywords on your website and online directory listings in order for it to pop up more frequently in people’s searches.

Start up a YouTube channel, Twitter page, Instagram page, Facebook page, and any other social media outlet – Social media outlets allow for you to promote your business while posting relevant content conveys personality and knowledge.

Blogging – Blogging is a great way to inform the audience and attract more inbound clients. Unlike social media, blog posts can be re-discovered way beyond its original post date as well as updated later on for a boost in discovery. Websites like WordPress and Medium are easy ways to start blogging.

Multiple Websites – You shouldn’t just limit yourself to one website. Create multiple websites and landing pages for specific home niches and areas that you service to create more specific relatability to your potential client’s needs.

Email Information – Be sure to include your email address wherever possible in order for existing clients and potential clients to contact you.

Email Newsletter – Having an email newsletter subscription lets you update clients and re-market to prospective clients while getting your information out there much faster.

LOCALIZED LISTINGS

When clients post reviews about your business, it creates more attraction for people searching on mobile devices or online. Have you noticed that when you run a Google search, localized listing websites such as Yelp or Zillow always appear near the top! Take advantage of this opportunity to be found on those high ranking websites. The following sites allow people to review your business online and can likely get you more new discovery and leads for your realty business.

Yelp.com

AngiesList.com

Zillow.com

YellowPages.com

Local.com

Redfin.com

Meetup.com

Trulia.com

Bing Local

Manta.com

Merchant Circle

Yahoo Directories

Realtor.com

Upnest.com

Opendoor.com

Like Google, these local listing websites are all built by tech companies that use algorithms to help recommend profiles and accounts to anyone using their website. With this in mind, it’s crucial to use best practices and strategies to optimize your profile on each of these websites so that you can appear higher in organic search results. Did you also know that using appropriate keywords for the name of images you upload online can even have an effect on how you appear in search results?

TRADITIONAL REAL ESTATE MARKETING IDEAS

Gifts – Simply gifting someone something such as a gift card or an arrangement of candies with your contact information on it can help create good will, build new relationships and even develop partnerships in the future.

Merchandise – Creating branded merchandise such as a lanyard or even a keychain is a creative way to advertise your business. This strategy helps ensure your brand is constantly visible while in their possession and can easily be passed out at events or around the neighborhood.

Interacting with Clients – There are different ways to interact and follow up with clients, but the most simple way is to thank them with considerate gifts. The gift doesn’t have to be spontaneous; a simple gift card on a holiday or their birthday will do the trick. This strategy allows for you to stand out from the crowd of other real estate businesses while giving your prospective client an opportunity to reciprocate in other ways.

Attend Seminars – Real estate seminars are a great way to connect with other business owners while giving you more insight on what real estate is all about. Not only is it a great way to connect with other resources, it also gives you a chance to tell more people about your own real estate business.

Volunteering – Expanding from your usual networks and resources by volunteering which allows you to engage with new people. A conversation starter can be talking about what you do while utilizing the resources around you. To accommodate with this strategy, volunteering should be done regularly to build more outreach to local people. You also get to feel great about helping a good cause in the process.

Contests – Create a contest that will help drive interested parties towards your business. This is a fun way to interact with potential clients and build attraction to your business as well. Add a viral factor such as “share with a friend to enter” to expand your contest’s reach.

Social Media Platforms – Everyone nowadays are on social media, therefore, having an engaging Facebook page (or any other social media page) can help people to contact you, see what your business offers for their needs, and provide social proof.

Hosting Your Own Seminar – Contact local people in your area to attend your seminar. These people will be able to hear about your business and information that helps build your own credibility and value.

EDUCATIONAL REAL ESTATE MARKETING IDEAS

High School Outreach – Reaching out to high schools to give speeches and sponsorships about real estate can inspire high school students and build more exposure within the local community.

Offering Giveaways – Request people’s contact information so they can be entered in a lottery and pick a winner to be gifted with whatever you chose as the prize. This isn’t only fun for everyone involved but you get new leads and contacts.

Teaching – Provide classes for people locally. This builds more connections, audience, and outreach to your real estate brand.

College Programs – Most colleges have career days that they offer and collaborating with them gives you the chance to let college students know about your brand while giving potential future home buyers information about real estate. Who knows, you might even find yourself a seasonal intern after.

Podcasts – Different podcast streamers need content on a variety of topics; real estate can be one of them. Appear on a podcast for more exposure to inform and entertain a new audience that would have never heard of your real estate business.

OUTREACH AND ADVERTISEMENT

In order to have a successful real estate business, outreach communication and advertisement play a major role. Make sure to be consistent when contacting and advertising to your target consumer. Use the marketing skills that have been a proven success for your business in conjunction with the ideas recommended here:

Start up a referral program – 92% of consumers trust referrals from people they know.

Create an eye-catching business card – Assuming you made a good first impression, your business card is the key item that they’ll remember you by.

Exchange numbers with clients – Constantly build up your rolodex and getting yourself out there, it’ll come in handy down the line. Bonus: add a personal note about something specific mentioned during your meeting so you can remember to follow-up about it next time you speak.

Have open houses – A great way to attract people on the market to buy or sell as well as intrigue passer-byers. Strong signage from open houses can also grow your brand awareness to the local community.

Work with commission only sales people – Performance based sales is a great way to get leads passively, just make sure to vet your salespeople to ensure they properly represent your business.

Wrap your car with your business information – That hour you spend sitting in traffic could turn into an hour long advertisement that gains you new business.

Postcards – Introduce or remind people about your business using beautiful imagery on a postcard they’d want to save and display.

Newspaper advertisement – Advertise in your local paper to appeal to different audiences.

Mailing direct postcards – Direct mailers require consistency and a bit of good timing but can provide great results as well as branding.

Work with social media influencers – Influencers is the new way to subtly advertise to consumers of all ages, get involved while the return on investment is still high.

Facebook Ads – Facebook has a ton of data on consumers, take advantage of this and market to your ideal demographic.

Purchase Ad slots on local websites – Local websites can be lower cost while still appealing to your ideal audience.

Partner with different companies – Developing multiple upstream or downstream mutual referral partnerships can help get you more clients consistently (i.e. property developers, home remodelers, property insurance companies, etc.)

Yahoo and Google Ads – There’s over 1.2 trillion searches a year worldwide.

NETWORKING

Building up a network for your brand through various resources is an essential ingredient for your real estate marketing plan. Be sure to create a unique follow-up strategy after you’ve met.

Focus groups

Meeting with Industry associations

Meeting with Arts associations

Meeting with Nonprofit groups

Meeting with Alumni associations

Working with charities

The following are some more tips to market your real estate business:

Facebook – With 2.41M monthly active users, it’s time to leverage this large community for your business.

Twitter – Tap into a wide audience while being able to have two way communication with a large scale of potential customers.

Instagram – A visually focused platform that allows you to showcase amazing properties and information about your own business.

Pinterest – Dream-home boards and unique niches are the perfect way to promote and garner new ideas.

LinkedIn – Professionals from various backgrounds could lead to a new client.

Hubpages – A great place to provide your own content for discovery.

Stumbleupon.com – Allow your website to be potentially showcased to new users.

Flickr.com – Using image based sources to highlight your business is a unique way to market to new audiences.

Digg.com – Expand your reach by creating content for outlets such as digg.com

Craigslist.com – You’d be surprised by how many people rely on Craigslist to buy, sell, and find what they’re looking for.

Vimeo.com – Similar to YouTube, adding ultra high-quality video content on Vimeo that represents your brand is an excellent bonus source of traffic and potential leads.

Link Swap with your local businesses – Collaborating and sharing audiences is an easy no-cost way to market your real estate company while potentially improving your SEO ranking.

Email List Building – Email lists allow constant re-marketability to your lists and is an easy way to find leads to perform outreach on.

Creating step-by-step guides – Currently, content is king when it comes to sales and marketing. Offer up-front value to your potential clients with in-depth step by step guides related to your industry while solidifying you expertise on the subject.

Comment on existing articles – Creating healthy discussion and insight help develop your network as well as expand your reach to other website’s audiences.

Creating infographics – Images are less competitive for SEO and are more likely to be shared or used which will help further your potential reach.

Add floor plans online – Find unique ways to have your real estate business discovered by the right prospects.

Post your own photos and videos of houses that are on the market – Provide home seekers a unique perspective of a home on the market to stand out.

Write real estate blog posts – Not only can you build an audience, but you can drive further traffic by boosting your website’s SEO. Most blogs are always seeking content in the form of guest blog posts by industry professionals, submit your real estate blog post to gain more traffic and leads.

Create slideshares – You can upload information, pitches and presentations on slideshare websites such as Prezi.com.

Monitor your online reviews – 97% of people read reviews of local businesses.

Make a FAQ page to answer for clients – Not only is this helpful but you can appear at the top of the search results by being a featured answer to a popular question about real estate.

Use hashtags and keywords in the content that you post – This helps expand your discoverability within specific categories on various platforms.

Provide a complimentary moving truck for clients after a sale – Unique add-on services that help add further value to your client and differentiate you from your competitors is key to converting new clients.

Professional photography on your house listings – Homes with high quality photography sell 32% faster. Start using drone photography to stay competitive.

Unique decor in the house listings to stand out – Prospects can look at dozens of homes before they make their choice. Having a creative eye for effective and unique decor could help you stand out as the better choice.

Connect with your neighborhood – You guessed it, Network!

Market to specific areas – When you market to everyone, you’re marketing to no one.

Create your own blog – Take full control of your blog writing with your own blog dedicated to your business or niche.

Start up direct campaigning

Target clients who are serious about buying.

Host a virtual open house through video chat. This can also allow scalability if you do a virtual open house for numerous potential buyers, record the session and post it on YouTube and social media for added exposure.

Host local tours for the neighborhood – Activities that attract locals are a great way to build your rolodex and build leads.

Utilize your social media platforms – We cannot stress this enough, build up your community. We don’t mean just posting a piece of content a day, constantly engage with the community by commenting and stimulating conversations.

Be the face of your business – People are naturally more trusting towards a brand that has a relatable human running it, be that human.

Leverage tentpole events – Bandwagon off of the hype and buzz of an upcoming event or trend to expand your reach and potentially go viral.

Conclusion

Congrats, you’ve made it to the end of our expansive list of the best real estate marketing ideas for agents, brokers, agencies, home owners, or anyone in between. These ideas have been proven to be highly effective if implemented in a strategic and consistent way. With all things, it takes time, consistency, and practice to get results.

Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it!

Let us know if we forgot to mention any other good ideas or if you want to hear more details about any of the ideas in particular.

]]>https://velvetmm.com/115-best-real-estate-marketing-ideas/feed/0How to Find the Perfect Influencers for Your Brand: 6-Step Guidehttps://velvetmm.com/how-to-find-the-perfect-influencers-for-your-brand-6-step-guide/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-to-find-the-perfect-influencers-for-your-brand-6-step-guide
https://velvetmm.com/how-to-find-the-perfect-influencers-for-your-brand-6-step-guide/#respondFri, 02 Aug 2019 00:11:11 +0000https://velvetmm.com/?p=605Many brands and businesses want to build their interaction with larger audiences and overall expand their outreach in order to be successful within social media marketing. When trying to find the right influencers to collaborate with, there are things to consider before reaching out. These are the top 6 things to consider so you can …

]]>Many brands and businesses want to build their interaction with larger audiences and overall expand their outreach in order to be successful within social media marketing. When trying to find the right influencers to collaborate with, there are things to consider before reaching out.

These are the top 6 things to consider so you can confidently know how to find influencers that provide brand value:

1. PLATFORM

Before getting started, it is important to find the ideal platform in which you are going to showcase your brand. There are many different platforms that help target the audience you are looking for including the major ones such as Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, and beyond.

With visual platforms, your influencer is able to post videos and photos to show off your brand with the guidelines that you give them.

2. REACHING OUT

After determining the preferred platform and target audience for your influencer campaign, you can start reaching out to influencers. You can start by reaching out to them directly such as sending an email or direct message (if email isn’t an option).

Take the time to know your influencer to have a better partnership with them.

3. AUTHENTICITY

The audience is attracted to social influencers due to them being credible and connecting with on-brand content that the audience likes to see. Having an influencer that just pushes the product onto the audience will not get you the best results. Softly promoting, while subtly directing the attention towards your brand is the better approach.

You want your influencer to have originality and no fake followers. Fake followers are accounts that aren’t active or have little to no activity. People can purchase these followers to make their page look as if they have a larger audience outreach.

The following are tools to help you determine whether or not an influencer has fake followers:

4. BUDGETING or BUDGET

It comes down to budgeting, the different platforms, and the amount of followers, that will determine the range of costs.

Influencers on instragram can charge brands anywhere from $100 to $3,000 per post. This all depends on the amount of followers each influencer has and the activity that they post.

Above is an example, but again – each influencer on different platforms have different costs.

In order to have efficient promoting of your brand, be sure to consider the budgets and audience you want to reach.

Often times there are cases where brands that have just started out aren’t able to pay the influencer. This is a common scenario for brands who prefer to work with micro-influencers (influencers that have 10,000 followers or less).

To work with this zero budget, you can create a gifting arrangement with the influencer where you send them free products and they agree to post the content in a creative way.

Gifting is the easiest and most simple way of working with influencers if you are in the works of expanding your brand and aren’t able to pay them just yet.

5. BEING IN CONTROL

An important part of working with influencers is making sure you have control of what type of content is being posted, and ensure that specific hashtags are being used, etc.

I.e. You send an influencer a product from your brand that you want them to promote. If you were to just send them the product with no instructions, it’s likely that you lose advertisement.

When sending a product, it is important to send special instructions in order to keep control and follow up on any partnerships in the future.

Some instructions that can be sent are:

How to showcase the product or your brand.

Specific hashtags that are relevant towards the product/your brand.

Caption guidelines to go along with the content influencers post regarding your product/brand.

6. INFLUENCER PARTNERSHIP

A key tip when working with influencers is building a relationship with the influencer in order to have a better outcome.

Never assume that an influencer has a particular skill (such as high quality photography) that you would like them to demonstrate to promote your brand. Do research beforehand and look into past partnerships that these influencers had to get a better understand on how they work.

Having control of the partnership and content posted is a good thing, but allow for the influencer to be unique. This allows them convey your brand in a way that they know their audience will engage with.

The best thing that influencers do is create amazing content. Allowing them this freedom can result in more successful promotional campaigns.

Gifting them with products occasionally can also help create a better partnership because it allows for them to test out the products from your brand, review it, and post content.

CONCLUSION

So if you’re still trying to figure out how to find influencers to represent your brand, consider the following of authenticity, budget, partnership, platform, and target audience. Whether it be wanting to expand your brand that has barely started or wanting more exposure, influencers can help do so. After all the research to find the perfect influencer for your brand, what do you consider to be a perfect influencer prior to what you researched?